Ethical and legal issues surrounding academic research into online radicalisation: a UK experience

There is a growing body of evidence that terrorists/terrorist groups have increased their use of the Internet to include a move into online social network environments in their efforts to radicalise and potentially recruit and mobilise new members. Both the US and UK governments acknowledge that not enough is known about this phenomenon and there is an urgent need for more substantive research in the area of terrorists' use of computer-mediated communication. However, research in this area carries with it some serious ethical and legal concerns that cannot and should not be ignored. UK law makes it difficult for terrorism studies researchers and other academics to conduct this online research without potentially violating the law. With careful consideration of the ethical concerns surrounding the methods of data collection, and knowledge of and adherence to Data Protection laws, along with notification of proposed research to the proper law enforcement office to insure compliance with the UK Terrorism Act, it is however possible to move forward with academic integrity and a reasonable assurance that one will not be charged and prosecuted for violations of the Terrorism Acts.     

Just counterterrorism

This article proposes the Just Counterterrorism Model for shaping and assessing counterterrorism strategy and tactics that are comprehensive, effective and ethical. After deconflating non-state terrorism from other sources of terror and briefly surveying how terror groups end, the article develops the Just Counterterrorism Model’s three components of Justice for the Attacked, Justice for Terrorists and Justice for Others. Each component addresses one of the three sets of actors involved in non-state terrorism (comprehensive), incorporates lessons learned from surveying how terror groups end (effective) and is informed by Rawls’ ethic of justice as fairness (ethical).     

Attorneys and Negotiation Ethics: A Material Misunderstanding?

Our research suggests that a true norm of ethical negotiation behavior exists within the legal profession. This conclusion is tempered, however, with the knowledge that a large minority of our research respondents — at times approaching one‐third of them — engaged in unethical and even fraudulent behavior. Additionally, the survey respondents were not saddled with the pressures that practicing attorneys typically confront (pressures likely to make people behave less, rather than more, ethically). In an attempt to understand the reasons for such a high frequency of unethical negotiation, we have identified three major contributing factors: too many lawyers have only a superficial understanding of rules that are more complicated than they appear; lawyers frequently take their “zealous advocate” role too far, thereby placing client loyalty above other important values such as respect for truth and justice; and the practice of law and the people who are drawn to it are highly competitive. To address these factors, we suggest approaching the problem from several different angles. In the classroom, we suggest a focus on the relevant legal standards, including a focus on the often misunderstood law of fraudulent misrepresentations. Because many students fail to appreciate the differences between “ethical” behavior, the floor of socially acceptable conduct, and the expectations that others have for how they will be treated, we also suggest that lawyer training programs focus on the important role that personal relationships and one's reputation play in the legal profession, and how falling short in these areas can decrease one's negotiation effectiveness. For the profession itself, we also suggest clarifying the attorney rules of conduct and provide a number of tactics and strategies to defend against lying and deception during negotiation. Finally, we recognize there are certain psychological factors at play that can cause people to engage in behavior inconsistent with their personal sense of ethics. We believe the only way to avoid these lapses is to integrate conscious and reflective practices that can bring ethical concerns to the forefront of lawyers' decision‐making and thought processes.     

Face to Face with Child Abuse: Towards an Ethics of Listening

This paper is concerned with faces. It is concerned with the face of a sexually abused seven years old child -- with my face -- and with the marginalisation and violation of children’s own subjective experiences of abuse by the law. Drawing upon my own subjective experience of sexual abuse as a young child, silenced for twenty-five years, I interpret my own sexual abuse as a profound experience of ‘homelessness’. To be homeless is to lack a primal place in the world, to be in a permanent state of disorientation, to be displaced. To be homeless is not necessarily to be emotionally insecure, but to be voiceless. Accordingly, the subject of sexual abuse is an emotionally dislocated subject and I interpret my own abuse in terms of an enduring experience of the violation of place. In other words, I would argue that the physical act of sexual abuse is less important than the site or place of abuse. The significance of sexual abuse is that it reveals the homelessness of our own sojourn and the poverty of our own subjectivity. Given this interpretation, I find the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child problematic and I attempt to think child sexual abuse in ethical terms. Following Emmanuel Levinas, I present sexual abuse in terms of the ethical significance of the face-to-face relationship and I argue that rights-based advocacy must listen to what children say. It must think through what listening to that voice entails in ethical terms. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

师德建设制度化的动力探析

加强师德建设制度化,是促进教师队伍建设、提升教师形象素质的一种有效方式。师德建设制度化,是对师德建设规范化和高效化本质要求的有力回应,也是对国家、社会、学校等各层面发展需求的有力配合,值得深思与探索。     

良性司法伦理体系构建路径之探析——以法官伦理为视角

司法伦理是社会对法律人在法律适用过程中的行为具有应然意义上的规范和法律人内心价值追求的自在规范。构建良性的司法伦理体系对于实现法治、促进社会和谐发展具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

论人民警察职业道德建设

加强人民警察职业道德建设、提高人民警察职业道德素养,是公安队伍建设的重要内容。人民警察职业道德建设必须把绝对忠诚摆在首位、以服务人民为终极取向、以无私奉献为基本要求。在改革开放全面深化的今天,人民警察职业道德建设不仅是增强警察综合素质、促进警察专业发展的必然要求,而且是树立警察良好形象、提升公安软实力的内在诉求,同时也是保障社会公平正义、维护社会安定和谐的现实需求。人民警察职业道德建设必须完善人民警察职业道德规范体系,强化人民警察职业道德教育与实践,提高人民警察职业道德修养的自觉性,健全人民警察道德监督机制。     

Securitisation of research: fieldwork under new restrictions in Darfur and Mali

Knowledge on conflict-affected areas is becoming increasingly important for scholarship and policy. This article identifies a recent change in knowledge production regarding 'zones of danger', attributing it not only to the external environment, but also to an on-going process of securitisation of research resulting from institutional and disciplinary practices. Research is increasingly framed by security concerns and is becoming a security concern in itself, although the implications are not readily acknowledged. To illustrate these developments, we draw on fieldwork in Mali and Darfur.     

网络民主参与的伦理意义及实现路径研究

随着网络及相关技术的不断发展,构建有序的网络民主参与路径,成为社会主义政治文明建设和国家治理现代化的重要方面。文章论述了网络民主参与具有提高公众参与国家事务积极性、提高网民政治素养和道德觉悟、推动国家治理体系和治理能力现代化等伦理意义。讨论了当前网络民主参与存在少数网民网络民主参与的理性不足、在一些舆情发展过程中缺乏有效地舆论引导能力等问题,并认为网络政治伦理体系建设的滞后等是导致各种问题的主要原因之一。提出培育网民公共理性,加强和完善舆论引导能力,特别是构建具有中国特色的网络政治伦理体系,可从根本上解决网络民主参与的诸多问题,筑造网络民主参与的有效路径,推进国家治理现代化。     

回归学术还是面向问题?——当代马克思主义伦理学的两种致思路向

回归学术与面向问题是马克思主义伦理学研究的两种致思路向,其根据在于马克思主义哲学的历史性和现实性这两种价值诉求。马克思主义伦理思想发生史、西方马克思主义伦理思想批评史和马克思主义伦理学问题史,构成了马克思主义伦理学的三种书写方式,其中前两种是朝向学术的,后一种是面向问题的。建构当代中国形态的马克思主义伦理学就是沿着回归学术和面向问题两种路径而展开,研读经典文本、领悟微言大义,旨在返本开新,回到道德与伦理问题得以发生和演变的初始根据,感悟马克思恩格斯创立唯物史观的心路历程、领悟马克思恩格斯运用唯物史观批判资本主义和构想共产主义的原则与精神。在继承和发展马克思恩格斯伦理观的基础上,适度借鉴或吸收中外伦理思想资源,继续完善马克思主义伦理学的理论体系,在现代性场域下,研究继续深化和完善社会主义市场经济过程中的具有道德和伦理性质的理论问题和实践难题;在全球治理和国家治理实践中,探索和构建中国形态的德性论、规范论与实践论。一种日趋完善的社会主义道德和伦理体系,不仅具有中国价值,更有世界意义。